BEIJING, November 21. /TASS/. The US nuclear weapons policy has significantly undermined the global strategic balance, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Lin Jian stated at a briefing.

"In recent years, the US has elevated the role of nuclear weapons in its national security strategy, which has seriously disrupted global strategic balance and stability, intensified military rivalry and confrontation, and increased nuclear risks," Lin Jian said.

The United States continues to modernize its nuclear triad, the Chinese spokesman noted. The country is strengthening military cooperation with its allies and promoting the deployment of medium-range missiles and missile defense systems on their territory, he said, adding that the US seeks "hegemony and an absolute strategic advantage."

The US should "create conditions for the final achievement of comprehensive and complete nuclear disarmament, and make efforts to reduce strategic risks and maintain regional peace and stability," Lin Jian said.

Earlier, Rear Admiral Thomas Buchanan, a senior member of the US Strategic Command (STRATCOM), stated that China had recently surpassed the United States in the number of land-based intercontinental ballistic missile launchers. He said that China continued to substantially expand its strategic and nuclear capabilities, which "seemed to be at odds with its minimum nuclear deterrence doctrine." China has recently supplied its armed forces with about 1,000 additional ballistic missiles of various ranges, including nuclear ones, he specified.